Achievement Gap

"Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Achievement for Low-Income Students and Students of Color"

While fewer black, Hispanic, and low-income students are scoring "below basic" in national reading and mathematics assessments, those groups aren't making similar progress at the top end of the achievement scale—especially in high school, according to a new report from the Education Trust.

For its analysis, the Washington-based research and advocacy organization reviewed recent trends on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

It finds, for example, that in mathematics in 2011, about one in 10 white 4th graders reached the "advanced" level, compared with one in 50 Hispanic students and one in 100 black students.

Wide gaps at the advanced level also occurred in 4th and 8th grade reading, but only between lower- and higher-income students, not between students of color and white students, the report says.

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